Book Reviews
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BOOK REVIEWS John B. Hattendorf (ed.). Ubi Sumus? The State son provided the full review of "naval and mari• of Naval and Maritime History. Newport, RI: time history" (France, Germany, Italy, Nether• Naval War College Press, 1994. ix + 419 pp., lands, Spain), for others teams of two or three figures. US $10 (+ $2.50 p&h), paper; ISBN 1- were required (Canada, USA), while in the case 884733-04-2. of Britain the virtually total absence of non- naval aspects in the single presentation was not This is the most wide-ranging review of mari• compensated by the work of a second author. time historiography yet published. It is the result The several reports emanating from the of a conference convened at the invitation of conference in themselves would have created a Paul Kennedy at Yale University in collabora• highly valuable volume, but the organizers tion with John Hattendorf and the Naval War followed a larger vision by also inviting authors College. The aim of the conference was to from an admirable wide range of other countries review the current state of "naval and maritime to submit written reports about the state of history" on the basis of detailed reports commis• maritime and naval history in their respective sioned from eight historians about the state of countries. The list of countries thus covered will "naval and maritime history" in their respective show how wide their net was cast: a brief report countries: Canada, France, Germany, Italy, the on "the Ancient World" is followed by Argenti• Netherlands, Spain, Great Britain, and the na, Australia, Belgium, Chile, Denmark, Dom• United States. A specific seven-point set of inican Republic, India, Ireland, Israel, Japan, guidelines was distributed to participants which South Korea, New Zealand, Norway, Pakistan, covered subjects taught at tertiary level and Peru, Poland, Portugal, Singapore, South Africa, institutions of teaching; historical organizations Sweden, and Taiwan; a final three-page chapter and publications; intellectual trends; coverage of "Beyond Toddlerhood: Thoughts on the Future the field and areas neglected; the relationship of US Naval History" opens a window on an between naval and non-naval maritime history; unstated yet not insignificant objective of the and the role of politics and ideology in shaping volume: how best to develop the naval history historical debates. of the USA in order to draw lessons from the This was an ambitious and challenging naval past for the future of the US Navy in the agenda for the invited panellists who were coming period of adaptation after the end of the selected on the basis of the fundamental ack• Cold War. Many of the later commissioned nowledgement of the international nature of chapters are rather brief but, with altogether maritime history; as Hattendorf explained, "sea thirty-three chapters, it is evident that I cannot history, maritime trade and naval rivalry touch review them comprehensively. on several nations simultaneously." (p.2) The The overall emphasis of Ubi Sumus? is def• participants were all recognized experts in their initively naval. The reports of the non-confer• respective countries/fields and made valiant ence participants especially show a significant efforts to satisfy the demands of the organizers. bias towards naval history in their coverage, Overall, this volume contains a wealth of histo- sometimes to the total exclusion of any other riographical and bibliographical references, theme. In fact, more than a dozen authors are making it a must for the library of any serious naval officers and several others are attached to maritime historian. For some countries one per• naval institutions of one kind or another. The 75 76 The Northern Mariner former group includes the author of the chapter be taken in consideration, too. on Germany which deals in a highly interesting Many chapters of the book are illuminating, way with scholarly writing on that country's critical and stimulating. It is evident that in navy but offers very little comment on the mod• many countries naval and military establish• ern historiography of the German merchant ments have had a strong influence on the writing marine and the rich literature on social and trade of national naval history, often specifically for union history. nationalist and political purposes. Several chap• Overall, the term "maritime history" has ters range over many centuries (France, Nether• been interpreted by many authors in a regrettab• lands, Poland), others are necessarily (Australia, ly narrow fashion as relating only to the broader New Zealand, Canada, USA) or by choice elements of seaborne empire building, shipping (Germany, Italy) restricted to the most recent and navigation, or non-naval activity at sea. century. Spain, by contrast, appears virtually Especially in North America, naval and mari• without the Twentieth Century. time history are seen as separate entities, of The most comprehensive chapters are those which the former but not the latter has received on France and the Netherlands. The chapters on a distinct definition. Inevitably, such a sharp Canada and the USA also provide a thorough demarcation, as expressed by the subtitle of the overview, although it is surprising to find no volume, leads to conceptual vagueness and mis• references to the Canadian Pacific company, understanding. But it also led most authors to Carlisle's work on the Flags of Convenience, or put great stress on naval history which, in turn, Kimelman's Reds or Rackets: The Making of forced them to compress their discussion of Radical and Conservative Unions on the Water• other aspects into such a restricted space that no front (1989). Italy is represented in a rather adequate coverage of the full range of subjects bizarre fashion: one chapter deals, highly inter• belonging to maritime history could be achieved. estingly, with twentieth-century naval history, a As Jaap Bruijn strongly enunciates in his second serves partly as commentary and partly chapter on the Netherlands, it is conceptually as complementation. Yet the modern Italian and historically erroneous to juxtapose naval and shipping and shipbuilding industries, seafaring maritime history as equals: naval history, despite and unionism are hardly touched. Informative the clear definition of its subject matter, is an are the two-author chapters on Australia and integral part of maritime history and does not Poland, equally for their naval as for their stand outside and beside it. Using armed force at "maritime" parts. Although the latter does not sea is just one of the many ways in which man• deal with the extensive literature on the Baltic kind has used the maritime spaces of the world trade from Gdansk and other Polish ports, it and there are many elements common to all brings together a useful range of studies on these forms of maritime activities, whether it seafaring, shipping and shipbuilding. The titles concerns navies, privateers, fishers and whalers, on Gdansk might also have included Dzieje merchant shipping, yachting or surfing: crews Gdanska, the more popular history by Edmund and participants, technology, gender relation• Cieslak and Czeslaw Biernat (Gdansk, 1975), ships, the nature of maritime communities, etc. and Carl Tighe's Gdansk. National Identity in An important element virtually neglected the Polish-German Borderlands (London, 1990). throughout the volume, viz. that of maritime Especially the latter poses the conceptual prob• identity or ideology of many countries, as lem of how far the meaning and identity of expressed through art, literature, film and many "maritime history" can be stretched in order to other media, does include not only naval power make the subject interact with other specializ• but many of the other maritime elements as ations and, indeed, the study of history at large. well. Indeed, even in the field of naval history, Such a broad perspective could have added to it has already long time been acknowledged that the otherwise interesting, though brief, chapter there is little usefulness in the terms naval on Singapore which omits all reference to the strategy or naval power, but that in preference work of Mary Turnbull. maritime strategy and seapower should be used, The acute question of the location of mari• implying that many non-naval elements need to time history within the broader discipline of his- Book Reviews 77 tory is specifically raised by Hattendorf in his Wallot (30), Ouellet (29), Rawlyk (27), Greer introduction, alarmed by the report of the Coun• (22), Harris (21), Dechêne (20), Trigger (18) cil of American Maritime Museums which con• and Buckner (18). Among the dead those who cluded that maritime history was often consid• still cast the longest shadows are Innis (22), ered to be irrelevant and isolated and that, unless Creighton (17), W.L. Morton (16) and MacNutt active steps were undertaken, in danger of ex• (14). As a graduate student at McGill in the tinction. 1 believe this diagnosis is largely cor• mid-1950s I read Fregault's masterpiece, La rect although the situation varies from country to guerre de la conquête. Poor old Guy, arguably country. Few practical steps were suggested to the ablest French-Canadian historian of his day, rectify this crisis situation and, sadly, the intro• now gets only four citations. His subject in duction referred to neither the International Canada almost died with him, and no historian Commission on Maritime History nor the Inter• has revisited it, except Steele, whose works are national Maritime Economic History Associa• overlooked here. It is a warning even to the tion. But the overview of the infrastructure of most puffed up among us that what we think is research, publication and education offered in so central a concern, another generation will this book constitutes a highly valuable start on render peripheral or ignore altogether. the way to kick-start maritime history, with all Despite the thousands of citations, not its specializations including naval history, into everything of importance is noted.